Firstly, applicant wishes to incorporate by reference disclosure document no. 200,011 which was filed on Aug. 26, 1988 and a disclosure document entitled "PERMA HULL" which was led on Apr. 29, 1987, in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
This patent application discloses inventions which constitute improvements over an invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,344 to Andoe dated Sep. 20, 1988; the Andoe patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
Applicant's prior patent discloses a method of installing a copper material on the hull of a vessel such that no contact is permitted between the copper material and any and all dissimilar metals. Also disclosed therein is a new passive or active cathodic protection system which reduces the corrosion of the copper material that has been attached to the vessel. In conjunction with the attaching of the copper material to a hull of a vessel, a dielectric barrier is disclosed having dielectric characteristics that reduce the galvanic corrosion effects, the dielectric barrier being interposed between the copper material and dissimilar metals.
The prior patent also discloses uses of the improved dielectric barrier in areas of overlap as well as pretreatments of areas to be overlapped to enhance bonding between materials. The prior patent discloses, as advantages of the inventive method, extended vessel life by installing the improved copper material to a hull of a vessel, reduced hull damage and corrosion, improved bonding of the copper material onto a hull and improved economics regarding the installation method per se. The following areas of the aforementioned issued patent have been found to necessitate further research to find improved ways of installing the copper foil material and protecting the hull of a vessel:
(a) Bonding between the hull and the copper material as well as at overlap joints in certain commercial, marine vessel and pleasure boat applications has been difficult to achieve and maintain.
(b) Impacts to the hull of a vessel establishing galvanic couples between the hull and applied copper materials cannot be detected without visual observation.
(c) The dielectric barrier as disclosed in the prior patent does not account for the varying galvanic corrosion rates that occur for differing hull compositions and under water appendage compositions in conjunction with a particular composition of the applied copper material. Furthermore, methods of applying the dielectric barrier as well as different areas of application lack flexibility as to time constraints required to achieve successful bonding.
(e) Limitations exist involving being able to use the disclosed cathodic protection system in all areas where less than 30 inches in a plane separate the cathodic protection system from a portion of the hull of a vessel.